After announcing yesterday that The CW will air NXT PLEs in the USA, WWE today announced that CW Sports will be coming to the ESPN App. The CW Network and ESPN team up to stream more than 800 hours of live events from CW Sports on the ESPN App. CW Sports events will exclusively stream live, within the ESPN App for all ESPN Unlimited plan subscribers.
Here is a part of the official announcement.
The CW Network and ESPN are teaming up to make the ESPN App the exclusive streaming home for all CW Sports live events, combining premium sports offerings into a single viewer-friendly experience through this groundbreaking agreement.
All CW Sports will broadcast live on The CW Network as well as stream live on the ESPN App for fans with an ESPN Unlimited subscription plan, including live coverage of college football and men’s and women’s basketball from the ACC, Pac-12 and Mountain West conferences, the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series, WWE NXT, PBA Bowling, PBR Bull Riding, AVP volleyball and the 2026 Arizona Bowl.
Fans with an ESPN Unlimited plan subscription will have the opportunity to watch all CW Sports offerings live on any device with the ESPN App as a complement to The CW’s free over-the-air broadcast model nationwide, while advertisers will extend reach to new audiences across all digital platforms.
CW Sports and ESPN are teaming up 🤝
The ESPN App is set to be streaming home for all CW Sports live events starting this summer! pic.twitter.com/UsTrSXnDvN
— The CW Sports (@TheCW_Sports) April 29, 2026
CW Sports on the ESPN App is expected to launch in Summer 2026
The CW is a prominent broadcaster within the college sports landscape, including a partnership with the ACC to air college football and men’s and women’s basketball games. The network recently extended its partnership with the new Pac-12 Conference to include 13 regular season football games per year through the 2030-31 season, as well as adding regular season men’s and women’s basketball games including the women’s basketball tournament’s semifinal and championship games.
In Fall 2026, CW Sports will also begin its pact with the Mountain West conference to air 13 football games, 20 men’s basketball games and 15 women’s basketball games per year through the 2030-31 season. This fall, The CW will also broadcast the 2026 Arizona Bowl for the fourth year in a row.
Other sports offered through The CW include WWE NXT live every Tuesday night, PBA professional bowling championship games, AVP professional beach volleyball matches and PBR bull riding team series events.
WWE’s main roster premium live events moved to ESPN last September. The fate of NXT’s PLEs has been up in the air ever since then, including the brand’s biggest show of the year, Stand & Deliver, airing free on YouTube just this past month.
Finally, just yesterday, it was announced that starting with Great American Bash, The CW would become the home of 20 NXT PLEs over the next several years. WWE is in the midst of a five-year partnership with The CW, which began in October 2024. Outside of the US, NXT weekly episodes and PLEs are available on Netflix.
